Another suit aims to keep carp out

5 states asking to close locks to Lake Michigan

July 20, 2010|By Joel Hood, Tribune reporter

Five Great Lakes states filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday to try to block Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan, the third attempt to seek the closing of Chicago-area shipping locks through the court system.

Spearheaded by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, the suit charges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago with failing to stop movement of the feared invasive species toward the Great Lakes.The suit -- brought by Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania -- asks the court to close shipping locks temporarily in the Calumet-Sag Channel and the Chicago River while other control methods can be put in place.

Cox said efforts to stop Asian carp, such as the underwater electric barrier built near Romeoville, have not worked.

"Based on what we've seen, it's pretty clear that carp are getting beyond the (electric) barrier, and that has simply not been good enough," said Cox, a Republican candidate for governor in Michigan. "These fish are a clear and present danger to the Great Lakes."

In addition to lock closings, the suit calls for the use of nets, physical barriers and fish toxins to control carp movement.

It also urges the Army Corps to complete a study looking at severing the Chicago-area shipping corridor that connects Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River watershed within 18 months.

Jim Farrell of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, which has fought to keep shipping locks open, called the lawsuit "a politically motivated filing" and said the Asian carp problem was "under control."